After Keynesian Macroeconomics. Robert Eo Lucas and Thomas J. Sargent

Transcription

1 After Keynesian Macroeconomics Robert Eo Lucas and Thomas J. Sargent 1. Introduction For the applied economist, the confident and apparently successful application of Keynesian principles to economic policy which occurred in the United States in the 1960s was an event of incomparable significance and satisfaction. These principles led to a set of simple, quantitative relationships between fiscal policy and economic activity generally, the basic logic of which could be (and was) explained to the general public, and which could be applied to yield improvements in economic performance benefiting everyone. It seemed an economics as free of ideological difficulties as, say, applied chemistry or physics, promising a straightforward expansion in economic possibilities. One might argue about how this windfall should be distributed, but it seemed a simple lapse of logic to oppose the windfall itself. Understandably and correctly, this promise was met at first with skepticism by noneconomists; the smoothly growing prosperity of the Kennedy-Johnson years did much to diminish these doubts. We dwell on these halcyon days of Keynesian economics because, without conscious effort, they are difficult to recall today. In the present decade, the U.S. economy has undergone its first major depression since the 1930s, to the accompaniment of inflation rates in excess of 10 percent per annum. These events have been transmitted (by consent of the governments involved) to other advanced countries and in many cases have been amplified. These events did not arise from a reactionary reversion to outmoded, "classical" principles of tight money and balance budgets. On the contrary, they were accompanied by massive governmental budget deficits and high rates of monetary expansion: policies which, although bearing an admitted risk of inflation, promised according to modern Keynesian doctrine rapid real growth and low rates of unemployment. That these predictions were wildly incorrect, and that the doctrine on which they were based is fundamentally flawed, are now simple matters of fact, involving no novelties in economic theory. The task which faces contemporary students of the business cycle is that of sorting through the wreckage, determining which features of that remarkable intellectual event ealted the Robert E. Lucas is Professor of Economics at the University of Chicago and Thomas J. Sargent is Professor of Economics at the University of Minnesota. The authors wish to acknowledge the benefit of criticism of an earlier dxaft by William Poole and Benjamin Friedman. 49

2 50 INFLATION AND UNEMPLOYMENT Keynesian Revolution can be salvaged and put to good use, and which others must be discarded. Though it is far from clear what the outcome of this process will be, it is already evident that it will necessarily involve the reopening of basic issues in monetary economics which have been viewed since the thirties as "closed," and the reevaluation of every aspect of the institutional framework within which monetary and fiscal policy is formulated in the advanced countries. This paper is in the nature of an early progress report on this process of reevaluation and reconstruction. We begin by reviewing the econometric framework by means of which Keynesian theory evolved from disconnected, qualitative "talk" about economic activity into a system of equations which could be compared to data in a systematic way, and provide an operational guide in the necessarily quantitative task of formulating monetary and fiscal policy. Next, we identify those aspects of this framework which were central to its failure in the seventies. In so doing, our intent will be to.establish that the difficulties are fatal: that modern macroeconomic models are of no value in guiding policy, and that this condition will not be remedied by modifications along any line which is currently being pursued. This diagnosis, if successful, will suggest certain principles which a useful theory of business cycles must possess. In the latter part of this paper we shall review some recent research which is consistent with these principles. 2. Macroeconometric Models The Keynesian Revolution was, in the form in which it succeeded in the United States, a revolution in method. This was not Keynes s [13] intent, nor is it the view of all of his most eminent followers. Yet if one does not view the revolution in this way, it is impossible to account for some of its most important features: the evolution of macroeconomics into a quantitative, scientific discipline, the development of explicit statistical descriptions of economic behavior, the increasing reliance of government officials on technical economic expertise, and the introduction of the use of mathematical control theory to manage an economy. It is the fact that Keynesian theory lent itself so readily to the formulation of explicit econometric models which accounts for the dominant scientific position it attained by the 1960s. As a consequence of this, there is no hope of understanding either the success of the Keynesian Revolution or its eventual failure at the purely verbal level at which Keynes himself wrote. It will be necessary to know something of the way macroeconometric models are constructed and the features they must have in order to "work" as aids in forecasting and policy evaluation. To discuss these issues, we introduce some notation. An econometric model is a system of equations involving a number of endogenous variables (variables that are determined by the model), exogenous variables (variables which affect the system but are not affected by it), and stochastic or random shocks. The idea is to use historical data to estimate the model, and then to utilize the estimated version to obtain estimates of the consequences of alternative policies. For practical reasons, it is usual to use a standard linear model, taking the structural form I 1 Linearity is a matter of convenience, not of principle. See Section 6.3, below.

3 AFTER KEYNESIAN MACROECONOMICS LUCAS-SARGENT 51 (1) A0Y t + AlYt_ AmYt_ m = B0x t + Blxt Bnxt. n + t (2) R0ct + R1 et Rr~t-r = ut, R0 ~- I. Here Yt is an (Lxl) vector of endogenous variables, x t is a (Kxl) vector of exogenous variables, and et and ut are each (Lxl) vectors of random disturbances. The matrices Aj are each (LxL); the Bj s are (LxK), and the Rj s are each (LxL). The (Lxl) disturbance process u t is assumed to be a serially uncorrelated process with Eu t = 0 and with contemporaneous covariance matrix Eutu ~ = E and Eututs ~ 0 for all t 4: s. The defining characteristic of the exogenous variables xt is that th.ey are uncorrelated with the e s at all lags so that Eutx~ is an (LxK) matrix of zeroes for all t and s. Equations (1) are L equations in the L current values Yt of the endogenous variables. Each of these structural equations is a behavioral relationship, identity, or market cleating condition, and each in principle can involve a number of endogenous variables. The structural equations are usually not "regression equations 2 because the ct s are in general, by the logic of the model, supposed to be correlated with more than one component of the vector Yt and very possibly one or more components of the vectors yt-1, Yt-m. The structural model (1) and (2) can be solved for Yt in terms of past y s and x s and past shocks. This "reduced form" system is (3) Yt = - PlYt Pr+mYt-r-m + Q0xt + + where 3 Qr+nXt_n.r + A~ I u t Ps =A) ~ ~ RjAs-j Os = A51. ~ RjBs-j" The reduced form equations are "regression equations," that is, the disturbance vector A~) 1 u t is orthogonal to Yt-1,, Yt-r-m, xt,.., Xt-n-r. This follows from the assumptions that the x s are exogenous and that the u s are serially uncorrelated. Therefore, under general conditions the reduced form can be estimated consistently by the method of least squares. The population parameters of the reduced form (3) together with the parameters of a vector autoregression for xt, (4) x t=c1xt_ Cpxt_ p +a t ~A "regression equation" is an equation to which the application of ordinary least squares will yield consistent estimates. 3 In these expressions for Ps and Qs, take matrices not previously defined (for example, any with negative subscripts) to be zero.

4 52 INFLATION AND UNEMPLOYMENT where Eat = O and Eat. xt-j = O for j >~ 1 completely describe all of the first and second moments of the (Yt, xt) process. Given long enough time series, good estimates of the reduced form parameters - the Pj s and Qj s - can be obtained by the method of least squares. Reliable estimates of those parameters is all that examination of the data by themselves can deliver. It is not in general possible to work backwards from estimates of the P s and Q s alone to derive unique estimates of the structural parameters, the Aj s, Bj s, and Rj s. In general, infinite numbers of A, B, and R s are compatible with a single set of P s and Q s. This is the "identification problem" of econometrics. In order to derive a set of estimated structural parameters, it is necessary to know a great deal about them in advance. If enough prior information is imposed, it is possible to extract estimates of the (Aj, B l, Rl) S implied by the data in combination with the prior information. For purposes of ex ante forecasting, or the unconditional prediction of the vector Yt+l Yt+2... given observation of Ys and Xs, s ~< t, the estimated reduced form (3), together with (4), is sufficient. This is simply an exercise in a sophisticated kind of extrapolation, requiring no understanding of the structural parameters or, that is to say, of the economics of the model. For purposes of conditional forecasting, or the prediction of the future behavior of some components of Yt and x t conditional on particular values of other components, selected by policy, one needs to know the structural parameters. This is so because a change in policy necessarily alters some of the structural parameters (for example, those describing the past behavior of the policy variables themselves) and therefore affects the reduced form parameters in highly complex fashion (see the equations defining Ps and Qs, below (3)). Without knowledge as to which structural parameters remain invariant as policy changes, and which change (and how), an econometric model is of no value in assessing alternative policies. It should be clear that this is true regardless of how well (3) and (4) fit historical data, or how well they perform in unconditional forecasting. Our discussion to this point has been at a high level of generality, and the formal considerations we have reviewed are not in any way specific to Keynesian models. The problem of identifying a structural model from a collection of economic time series is one that must be solved by anyone who claims the ability to give quantitative economic advice. The simplest Keynesian models are attempted solutions to this problem, as are the large-scale versions currently in use. So, too, are the monetarist models which imply the desirability of fixed monetary growth rules. So, for that matter, is the armchair advice given economists who claim to be outside the econometric tradition, though in this case the implicit, underlying structure is not exposed to professional criticism. Any procedure which leads from the study of observed economic behavior to the quantitative assessment of alternative economic policies involves the steps, executed poorly or well, explicitly or implicitly, which we have outlined above. 3. Keynesian Macroeconometrics In Keynesian macroeconometric models structural parameters are identified by the imposition of several types of a priori restrictions on the Aj s, Bj s, and

5 AFTER KEYNESIAN MACROECONOMICS LUCAS-SARGENT 53 Rj s. These restrictions usually fall into one of the following categories: 4 (a) A priori setting of many of the elements of the Aj s and Bj s to zero. (b) Restrictions on the orders of serial correlation and the extent of the cross serial correlation of the disturbance vector ~t, restrictions which amount to a priori setting many elements of the Rj s to zero. (c) A priori categorization of variables into "exogenous" and "endogenous." A relative abundance of exogenous variables aids identification. Existing large Keynesian macroeconometric models are open to serious challenge for the way they have introduced each category of restriction. Keynes s General Theory was rich in suggestions for restrictions of type (a). It proposed a theory of national income determination built up from several simple re!ationships, each involving a few variables only. One of these, for example, was the "fundamental law" relating consumption expenditures to income. This suggested one "row" in equations (1) involving current consumption, current income, and no other variables, thereby imposing many zero-restrictions on the A i and Bj. Similarly, the liquidity preference relation expressed the demand for money as a function of income and an interest rate only. By translating the building blocks of the Keynesian theoretical system into explicit equations, models of the form (1) and (2) were constructed witlt many theoretical restrictions of type (a). Restrictions on the coefficients R i governing the behavior of the "error terms" in (1)are harder to motivate theoretically, the "errors" being by definition movements in the variables which the economic theory cannot account for. The early econometricians took "standard" assumptions from statistical textbooks, restrictions which had proved useful in the agricultural experimenting which provided the main impetus to the development of modern statistics. Again, these restrictions, well-motivated or not, involve setting many elements in the R~ s equal to zero, aiding identification of the model s structure. The classification of variables into "exogenous" and "endogenous" was also done on the basis of prior considerations. In general, variables were classed as "endogenous" which were, as a matter of institutional fact, determined largely by the actions of private agents (like consumption or private investment expenditures). Exogenous variables were those under governmental control (like tax rates, or the supply of money). This division was intended to reflect the ordinary meaning of the word "endogenous" to mean "determined by the [economic] system" and "exogenous" to mean "affecting the [economic] system but not affected by it." By the mid-1950s, econometric models had been constructed which fit time series data well, in the sense that their reduced forms (3)tracked past data closely and proved useful in short-term forecasting. Moreover, by means of 4These three categories certainly do not exhaust the set of possible identifying restrictions, but in Keynesian macroeconometric models most identifying restrictions fall into one of these three categories. Other possible sorts of identifying restrictions include, for example, a priori knowledge about components of 2;, and cross-equation restrictions across elements of the Aj, Bj, and Cj s. Neither of these latter kinds of restrictions is extensively used in Keynesian macroeconometrics.

6 54 INFLATION AND UNEMPLOYMENT restrictions of the three types reviewed above, it was possible to identify their structural parameters Ai, Bj, R k. Using this estimated structure, it was possible to simulate the models to obtain estimates of the consequences of different government economic policies, such as tax rates, expenditures or monetary policy. This Keynesian solution to the problem of identifying a structural inodel has become increasingly suspect as a result of developments of both a theoretical and statistical nature. Many of these developments are due to efforts to researchers sympathetic to the Keynesian tradition, and many were welladvanced well before the spectacular failure of the Keynesian models in the 1970s. s Since its inception, macroeconomics has been criticized for its lack of "foundations in microeconomic and general equilibrium theory." As astute commentators like Leontief [14] (disapprovingly) and Tobin [37] (approvingly) recognized early on, the creation of a distinct branch of theory with its own distinct postulates was Keynes s conscious aim. Yet a main theme of theoretical work since the General Theory has been the attempt to use microeconomic theory based on the classical postulate that agents act in their own interests to suggest a list of variables that belong on the right side of a given behavioral schedule, say, a demand schedule for a factor of production or a consumption schedule. 6 But from the point of view of identification of a given structural equation by means of restrictions of type (a), one needs reliable prior information that certain variables should be excluded from the right-hand side. Modern probabilisti~ microeconomic theory almost never implies either the exclusion restrictions that were suggested by Keynes or those that are imposed by macroeconometric models. SCriticisms of the Keynesian solutions of the identification problem along much the following lines have been made in Lucas [17], Sims [33], and Sargent and Sims [31]. 6 [This note was added in revision, in part in response to Benjamin Friedman s comments.] Much of this work was done by economists operating well within the Keynesian tradition, often within the context of some Keynesian macroeconometric model. Sometimes a theory with optimizing agents was resorted to in order to resolve empirical paradoxes by finding variables that had been omitted from some of the earlier Keynesian econometric formulations. The works of Modigliani and Friedman on consmnption are good examples of this line of work, a line whose econometric implications have been extended in important work by Robert Merton. The works of Tobin and Bamnol on portfolio balance and of Jorgenson on investment are also in the tradition of applying optimizing microeconomic theories for generating macroeconomic behavior relations. In the last thirty years, Keynesian econometric models have to a large extent developed along the line of trying to model agents behavior as stemming from more and more sophisticated optimum problems. Our point here is certainly not to assert that Keynesian economists have completely foregone any use of optimizing microeconomic theory as a guide. Rather, it is that, especially when explicitly stochastic and dynamic problems have been studied, it has become increasingly apparent that microeconomic theory has very damaging implications for the restrictions conventionally used to identify Keynesian macroeconometric models. Furthermore, as Tobin [37] emphasized long ago, there is a point beyond which Keynesian models must suspend the hypothesis either of cleared markets or of optimizing agents if they are to possess the operating characteristics and policy implications that are the hallmarks of Keynesian economics.

7 AFTER KEYNESIAN MACROECONOMICS LUCAS-SARGENT 55 To take one example that has extremely dire implications for the identification of existing macro models, expectations about the future prices, tax rates, and income levels play a critical role in many demand and supply schedules in those models. For example, in the best models, investment demand typically is supposed to respond to businessmen s expectations of future tax credits, tax rates, and factor costs. The supply of labor typically is supposed to depend on the rate of inflation that workers expect in the future. Such structural equations are usually identified by the assumption that, for example, the expectation about the factor price or rate of inflation attributed to agents is a function only of a few lagged values of the variable itself which the agent is supposed to be forecasting. However, the macro models themselves contain complicated dynamic interactions among endogenous variables, including factor prices and the rate of inflation, and generally imply that a wise agent would use current and many lagged values of many and usually most endogenous and exogenous variables in the model in order to form expectations about any one variable. Thus, virtually any version of the hypothesis that agents behave in their own interests will contradict the identification restrictions imposed on expectations formation. Further, the restrictions on expectations that have been used to achieve identification are entirely arbitrary and have not been derived from any deeper assumption reflecting first principles about economic behavior. No general first principle has ever been set down which would imply that, say, the expected rate of inflation should be modeled as a linear function of lagged rates of inflation alone with weights that add up to unity, yet this hypothesis is used as an identifying restriction in almost all existing models. The casual treatment of expectations is not a peripheral problem in these models, for the role of expectations is pervasive in the models and exerts a massive influence on their dynamic properties (a point Keynes himself insisted on). The failure of existing models to derive restrictions on expectations from any first principles grounded in economic theory is a symptom of a somewhat deeper and more general failure to derive behavioral relationships from any consistently posed dynamic optimization problems. As for the second category, restrictions of type (b), existing Keynesian macro models make severe a priori restrictions on the Rj s. Typically, the Rj.s are supposed to be diagonal so that cross equation lagged serial correlation xs ignored and also the order of the e t process is assumed to be short so that only low-order serial correlation is allowed. There are at present no theoretical grounds for introducing these restrictions, and for good reasons there is little prospect that economic theory will soon provide any such grounds. In principle, identification can be achieved without imposing any such restrictions. Foregoing the use of category (b) restrictions would increase the category (a) and (c) restrictions needed. In any event, existing macro models do heavily restrict the R s. Turning to the third category, all existing large models adopt an a priori classification of variables into the categories of strictly endogenous variables, the Yt S, and strictly exogenous variables, the xt s. Increasingly, it is being recognized that the classification of a variable as "exogenous" on the basis of the observation that it coum be set without reference to the current and past values

8 56 INFLATION AND UNEMPLOYMENT of other variables has nothing to do with the econometrically relevant question of how this variable has in fact been related to others over a given historical period. Moreover, in light of recent developments in time series econometrics, we know that this arbitrary classification procedure is not necessary. Christopher Sims [34] has shown that in a time series context the hypothesis of econometric exogeneity can be tested. That is, Sims showed that the hypothesis that x t is strictly econometrically exogenous in (1) necessarily implies certain restrictions that can be tested given time series on the y s and x s. Tests along the lines of Sims s ought to be used as a matter of course in checking out categorizations into exogenous and endogenous sets of variables. To date they have not been. Prominent builders of large econometric models have even denied the usefulness of such tests Failure of Keynesian Macroeconometrics Our discussion in the preceding section raised a number of theoretical reasons for believing that the parameters identified as structural by the methods which are in current use in macroeconomics are not structural in fact. That is, there is no reason, in our opinion, to believe that these models have isolated structures which will remain invariant across the class of interventions that figure in contemporary discussions of economic policy. Yet the question of whether a particular model is structural is an empirical, not a theoretical, one. If the macroeconometric models had compiled a record of parameter stability, particularly in the face of breaks in the stochastic behavior of the exogenous variables and disturbances, one would be skeptical as to the importance of prior theoretical objections of the sort we have raised. In fact, however, the track record of the major econometric models is, on any dimension other than very short-term unconditional forecasting, very poor. Formal statistical tests for parameter instability, conducted by subdividing past series into periods and checking for parameter stability across time, invariably reveal major shifts (for one example, see [23]). Moreover, this difficulty is implicitly acknowledged by model-builders themselves, who routinely employ an elaborate system of add-factors in forecasting, in an attempt to offset the continuing "drift" of the model away from the actual series. Though not, of course, designed as such by anyone, macroeconometric models were subjected in the 1970s to a decisive test. A key element in all Keynesian models is a "tradeoff" between inflation and real output: the higher is the inflation rate, the higher is output (or equivalently, the lower is the rate of unemployment). For example, the models of the late 1960s predicted a sustained unemployment rate in the United States of 4 percent as consistent with a 4 percent annual rate of inflation. Many economists at that time urged a deliberate policy of inflation on the basis of this prediction. Certainly the erratic "fits and starts" character of actual U.S. policy in the 1970s cannot be ~For example, see the comment by Albert Ando [35, especially pp ], and the remarks of L. R. Klein [24].

9 AFTER KEYNESIAN MACROECONOMICS LUCAS-SARGENT 57 attributed to recommendations based on Keynesian models, but the inflationary bias on average of monetary and fiscal policy in this period should, according to all of these models, have produced the lowest average unemployment rates for any decade since the 1940s. In fact, as we know, they produced the highest unemployment since the 1930s. This was econometric failure on a grand scale. This failure has not led to widespread conversions of Keynesian economists to other faiths, nor should it have been expected to. In economics, as in other sciences, a theoretical framework is always broader and more flexible than any particular set of equations, and there is always the hope that, if a particular specific model fails, one can find a more successful one based on "roughly" the same ideas. It has, however, already had some important consequences, with serious implications both for economic policy-making and for the practice of economic science. For policy, the central fact is that Keynesian policy recommendations have no sounder basis, in a scientific sense, than recommendations of non-keynesian economists or, for that matter, noneeonomists. To note one consequence of the wide recognition of this, the current wave of protectionist sentiment directed at "saving jobs" would have been answered, ten years ago, with the Keynesian counter-argument that fiscal policy can achieve the same end, but more efficiently. Today, of course, no one would take this response seriously, so it is not offered. Indeed, economists who ten years ago championed Keynesian fiscal policy as an alternative to inefficient direct controls increasingly favor the latter as "supplements" to Keynesian policy. The idea seems to be that if people refuse tq obey the equations we have fit to their past behavior, we can pass laws to make them do so. Scientifically, the Keynesian failure of the 1970s has resulted in a new openness. Fewer and fewer economists are involved in monitoring and refining the major econometric models; more and more are developing alternative theories of the business cycle, based on different theoretical principles. In addition, increased attention and respect are accorded to the theoretical casualties of the Keynesian Revolution, to the ideas of Keynes s contemporaries and of earlier economists whose thinking has been regarded for years as outmoded. At the present time, it is impossible to foresee where these developments will lead. Some, of course, continue to believe that the problems of existing Keynesian models can be resolved within the existing framework, that these models can be adequately refined by changing a few structural equations, by adding or subtracting a few variables here and there, or perhaps by disaggregating various blocks of equations. We have couched our preceding criticisms in such general terms precisely to emphasize their generic character and hence the futility of pursuing minor variations within this general framework. A second response to the failure of Keynesian analytical methods is to renounce analytical methods entirely, returning to "judgmental" methods. The first of these responses identifies the quantitative, scientific goals of the Keynesian Revolution with the details of the particular models so far developed. The second renounces both these models and the objectives they were designed to attain. There is, we believe, an intermediate course, to which we now turn.

10 58 INFLATION AND UNEMPLOYMENT 5. Equilibrium Business Cycle Theory Economists prior to the 1930s did not recognize a need for a special branch of economics, with its own special postulates, designed to explain the business cycle. Keynes founded that subdiscipline, called macroeconomics, because he thought that it was impossible to explain the characteristics of business cycles within the discipline imposed by classical economic theory, a discipline imposed by its insistence on adherence to the two postulates (a) that markets be assumed to clear, and (b) that agents be assumed to act in their own self-interest. The outstanding fact that seemed impossible to reconcile with these two postulates was the length and severity of business depressions and the large scale unemployment which they entailed. A related observation is that measures of aggregate demand and prices are positively correlated with measures of real output and employment, in apparent contradiction to the classical result that changes in a purely nominal magnitude like the general price level were pure "unit changes" which should not alter real behavior. After freeing himself of the straight-jacket (or discipline) imposed by the classical postulates, Keynes described a model in which rules of thumb, such as the consumption function and liquidity preference schedule, took the place of decision functions that a classical economist wotdd insist be derived from the theory of choice. And rather than require that wages and prices be determined by the postulate that markets clear-which for the labor market seemed patently contradicted by the severity of business depressions-keynes took as an unexamined postulate that money wages are "sticky," meaning that they are set at a level or by a process that could be taken as uninfluenced by the macroeconomic forces he proposed to analyze. When Keynes wrote, the terms "equilibrium" and "classical" carried certain positive and normative connotations which seemed to rule out either modifier being applied to business cycle theory. The term "equilibrium" was thought to refer to a system "at rest," and both "equilibrium" and "classical" were used interchangeably, by some, with "ideal." Thus an economy in classical equilibrium would be both unchanging and unimprovable by policy interventions. Using terms in this way, it is no wonder that few economists regarded equilibrium theory as a promising starting point for the understanding of business cycles, and for the design of policies to mitigate or eliminate them. In recent years, the meaning of the term "equilibrium" has undergone such dramatic development that a theorist of the 1930s would not recognize it. It is now routine to describe an economy following a multivariate stochastic process as being "in equilibrium," by which is meant nothing more than that at each point in time, postulates (a) and (b) above are satisfied. This development, which stemmed mainly from work by K. J. Arrow [2] and G. Debreu [6], implies that simply to look at any economic time series and conclude that it is a "disequilibrium phenomenon" is a meaningless observation. Indeed, a more likely conjecture, on the basis of recent work by Hugo Sonnenschein [36], is that

1 CHAPTER 11. AN OVEVIEW OF THE BANK OF ENGLAND QUARTERLY MODEL OF THE (BEQM) This model is the main tool in the suite of models employed by the staff and the Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) in the construction

The Real Business Cycle model Spring 2013 1 Historical introduction Modern business cycle theory really got started with Great Depression Keynes: The General Theory of Employment, Interest and Money Keynesian

Classical Model Real business cycle theory seeks to explain business cycles via the classical model. There is general equilibrium: demand equals supply in every market. An ideological conviction underlies

Chapter 5 Real business cycles 5.1 Real business cycles The most well known paper in the Real Business Cycles (RBC) literature is Kydland and Prescott (1982). That paper introduces both a specific theory

Chapter 8 Inflation This chapter examines the causes and consequences of inflation. Sections 8.1 and 8.2 relate inflation to money supply and demand. Although the presentation differs somewhat from that

1 Supplemental Unit 5: Fiscal Policy and Budget Deficits Fiscal and monetary policies are the two major tools available to policy makers to alter total demand, output, and employment. This feature will

A Review of the Literature of Real Business Cycle theory By Student E XXXXXXX Abstract: The following paper reviews five articles concerning Real Business Cycle theory. First, the review compares the various

Import Prices and Inflation James D. Hamilton Department of Economics, University of California, San Diego Understanding the consequences of international developments for domestic inflation is an extremely

MASTER OF SCIENCE FINANCIAL ECONOMICS ABAC SCHOOL OF MANAGEMENT ASSUMPTION UNIVERSITY OF THAILAND ECO 5001 Mathematics for Finance and Economics The uses of mathematical argument in extending the range,

518 Chapter 11 INFLATION AND MONETARY POLICY Thus, the monetary policy that is consistent with a permanent drop in inflation is a sudden upward jump in the money supply, followed by low growth. And, in

Masters in Financial Economics (MFE) Admission Requirements Candidates must submit the following to the Office of Admissions and Registration: 1. Official Transcripts of previous academic record 2. Two

Money and Public Finance By Mr. Letlet August 1 In this anxious market environment, people lose their rationality with some even spreading false information to create trading opportunities. The tales about

Chapter 11 Market-Clearing Models of the Business Cycle Goal of This Chapter In this chapter, we study three models of business cycle, which were each developed as explicit equilibrium (market-clearing)

Major Currents in Contemporary Economics The Real Business Cycle School Mariusz Próchniak Department of Economics II Warsaw School of Economics 1 Background During 1972-82,the dominant new classical theory

Discussion of Capital Injection, Monetary Policy, and Financial Accelerators Karl Walentin Sveriges Riksbank 1. Background This paper is part of the large literature that takes as its starting point the

The Liquidity Trap and U.S. Interest Rates in the 1930s SHORT SUMMARY Christopher Hanes Department of Economics School of Business University of Mississippi University, MS 38677 (662) 915-5829 chanes@bus.olemiss.edu

Is the Forward Exchange Rate a Useful Indicator of the Future Exchange Rate? Emily Polito, Trinity College In the past two decades, there have been many empirical studies both in support of and opposing

Intro to Data Analysis, Economic Statistics and Econometrics Statistics deals with the techniques for collecting and analyzing data that arise in many different contexts. Econometrics involves the development

1 Module C: Fiscal Policy and Budget Deficits Note: This feature provides supplementary analysis for the material in Part 3 of Common Sense Economics. Fiscal and monetary policies are the two major tools

ON THE DEATH OF THE PHILLIPS CURVE William A. Niskanen There is no evidence of a Phillips curve showing a tradeoff between unemployment and inflation. The function for estimating the nonaccelerating inflation

Chapter 22 The Classical Foundations Learning Objectives Define Say s law and the classical understanding of aggregate supply Understand the supply of saving and demand for investment that leads to the

New Keynesian Theory Graduate Macroeconomics I ECON 309 Cunningham New Classical View of Keynesian Economics Failure on a grand scale. Made up of ad hoc assumptions, not built on a strong foundation of

Fiscal Stimulus Improves Solvency in a Depressed Economy Dennis Leech Economics Department and Centre for Competitive Advantage in the Global Economy University of Warwick d.leech@warwick.ac.uk Published

Should Central Banks Respond to Movements in Asset Prices? By Ben S. Bernanke and Mark Gertler * In recent decades, asset booms and busts have been important factors in macroeconomic fluctuations in both

Chapter Vector autoregressions We begin by taking a look at the data of macroeconomics. A way to summarize the dynamics of macroeconomic data is to make use of vector autoregressions. VAR models have become

Introduction to time series analysis Margherita Gerolimetto November 3, 2010 1 What is a time series? A time series is a collection of observations ordered following a parameter that for us is time. Examples

Basic Concepts in Research and Data Analysis Introduction: A Common Language for Researchers...2 Steps to Follow When Conducting Research...3 The Research Question... 3 The Hypothesis... 4 Defining the

Can we rely upon fiscal policy estimates in countries with a tax evasion of 15% of GDP? Raffaella Basile, Ministry of Economy and Finance, Dept. of Treasury Bruno Chiarini, University of Naples Parthenope,

MACROECONOMIC ANALYSIS OF VARIOUS PROPOSALS TO PROVIDE $500 BILLION IN TAX RELIEF Prepared by the Staff of the JOINT COMMITTEE ON TAXATION March 1, 2005 JCX-4-05 CONTENTS INTRODUCTION... 1 EXECUTIVE SUMMARY...

Using Policy to Stabilize the Economy Since the Employment ct of 1946, economic stabilization has been a goal of U.S. policy. Economists debate how active a role the govt should take to stabilize the economy.

Intermediate Macroeconomics: The Real Business Cycle Model Eric Sims University of Notre Dame Fall 2012 1 Introduction Having developed an operational model of the economy, we want to ask ourselves the

DEPARTMENT OF ECONOMICS SCHOOL OF HUMANITIES AND SOCIAL SCIENCES Undergraduate Prospectus Bachelor of Science in Economics 1 CONTACT INFORMATION: Department of Economics, School of Humanities and Social

1. Leading economic indicators are: A) the most popular economic statistics. B) data that are used to construct the consumer price index and the unemployment rate. C) variables that tend to fluctuate in

In Defense of Destabilizing Speculation * by Milton Friedman In Essays in Economics and Econometrics, edited by Ralph W. Pfouts, pp. 133-141. Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 1960. University

ECONOMIC QUESTIONS FOR THE MASTER'S EXAM Introduction 1. What is economics? Discuss the purpose and method of work of economists. Consider observation, induction, deduction and scientific criticism. 2.

Keynesian Economics I The Keynesian System (I): The Role of Aggregate Demand Labor Market Excess supply and excess demand are not equally strong forces in the labor market. The supply of workers is such

A Note on the Optimal Supply of Public Goods and the Distortionary Cost of Taxation Louis Kaplow * Abstract In a recent article, I demonstrated that, under standard simplifying assumptions, it is possible

Fill in the Blanks. Module 1 S.Y.B.COM. (SEM-III) ECONOMICS 1. The continuous flow of money and goods and services between firms and households is called the Circular Flow. 2. Saving constitute a leakage

16 : Demand Forecasting 1 Session Outline Demand Forecasting Subjective methods can be used only when past data is not available. When past data is available, it is advisable that firms should use statistical

How Much Equity Does the Government Hold? Alan J. Auerbach University of California, Berkeley and NBER January 2004 This paper was presented at the 2004 Meetings of the American Economic Association. I

INDIRECT INFERENCE (prepared for: The New Palgrave Dictionary of Economics, Second Edition) Abstract Indirect inference is a simulation-based method for estimating the parameters of economic models. Its

The Elasticity of Taxable Income: A Non-Technical Summary John Creedy The University of Melbourne Abstract This paper provides a non-technical summary of the concept of the elasticity of taxable income,

A Primer on Forecasting Business Performance There are two common approaches to forecasting: qualitative and quantitative. Qualitative forecasting methods are important when historical data is not available.

The Effect of Money Market Certificates of Deposit on the Monetary Aggregates and Their Components By Scott Winningham On June 1, 1978, the Federal Reserve System and other regulatory agencies gave banks

Optimal Consumption with Stochastic Income: Deviations from Certainty Equivalence Zeldes, QJE 1989 Background (Not in Paper) Income Uncertainty dates back to even earlier years, with the seminal work of

DEMB Working Paper Series N. 53 What Drives US Inflation and Unemployment in the Long Run? Antonio Ribba* May 2015 *University of Modena and Reggio Emilia RECent (Center for Economic Research) Address:

J. T. M. Miller, Department of Philosophy, University of Durham 1 Methodological Issues for Interdisciplinary Research Much of the apparent difficulty of interdisciplinary research stems from the nature

Static and dynamic analysis: basic concepts and examples Ragnar Nymoen Department of Economics, UiO 18 August 2009 Lecture plan and web pages for this course The lecture plan is at http://folk.uio.no/rnymoen/econ3410_h08_index.html,

Chapter 13 Real Business Cycle Theory Real Business Cycle (RBC) Theory is the other dominant strand of thought in modern macroeconomics. For the most part, RBC theory has held much less sway amongst policy-makers

The Life-Cycle Motive and Money Demand: Further Evidence Jan Tin Commerce Department Abstract This study takes a closer look at the relationship between money demand and the life-cycle motive using panel

ON EXTERNAL OBJECTS By Immanuel Kant From Critique of Pure Reason (1781) General Observations on The Transcendental Aesthetic To avoid all misapprehension, it is necessary to explain, as clearly as possible,

Walras' Law and Keynesian Macroeconomics Abstract This paper examines the claim that Keynesian models violate Walras' law. Walras' law is founded in the logic of exchange. Standard statements misrepresent

The Case for a Tax Cut Alan C. Stockman University of Rochester, and NBER Shadow Open Market Committee April 29-30, 2001 1. Tax Increases Have Created the Surplus Any discussion of tax policy should begin

Finance and Economics Course Descriptions Finance Course Descriptions FIN 250 Financial Management This course addresses the theory and practice of financial management and the role of the Financial Manager.

Cointegration The VAR models discussed so fare are appropriate for modeling I(0) data, like asset returns or growth rates of macroeconomic time series. Economic theory, however, often implies equilibrium

CHAPTER 3 THE LOANABLE FUNDS MODEL The next model in our series is called the Loanable Funds Model. This is a model of interest rate determination. It allows us to explore the causes of rising and falling

The Fiscal Policy and The Monetary Policy Ing. Mansoor Maitah Ph.D. Government in the Economy The Government and Fiscal Policy Fiscal Policy changes in taxes and spending that affect the level of GDP to

Chapter 12 Unemployment and Inflation Multiple Choice Questions 1. The origin of the idea of a trade-off between inflation and unemployment was a 1958 article by (a) A.W. Phillips. (b) Edmund Phelps. (c)

Phd Macro, 2007 (Karl Whelan) 1 Real Business Cycle Models The Real Business Cycle (RBC) model introduced in a famous 1982 paper by Finn Kydland and Edward Prescott is the original DSGE model. 1 The early

The Difference Between Market and Barter: 2 Money and the Making of Markets Market is in many respects distinct from barter. This distinction needs to be emphasized, because the conventional theory treats

Abstract THE IMPACT OF MACROECONOMIC FACTORS ON NON-PERFORMING LOANS IN THE REPUBLIC OF MOLDOVA Dorina CLICHICI 44 Tatiana COLESNICOVA 45 The purpose of this research is to estimate the impact of several

Learning objectives This chapter presents an overview of recent work in two areas: Real Business Cycle theory New Keynesian economics Advances in Business Cycle Theory slide 1 The Theory of Real Business

1 The background Smith on Natural Wages and Profits (Chapters VIII and IX of The Wealth of Nations 1 ) Allin Cottrell When Smith begins work on the specifics of natural wages and profits, he has already

Economics Education and Research Consortium Working Paper Series ISSN 1561-2422 No 04/09 Monetary policy rules and their application in Russia Anna Vdovichenko Victoria Voronina This project (02-230) was

Macroeconomic Issues Macroeconomic Issues Monetary Neutrality, Home Mortgages, and the Phillips Curve Alan Day Haight State University of New York, Cortland Standard mortgage borrowing practices are incorporated